Trying Again : Shota Aizawa x Fem!Reader series

Chapter 2

You did well in your first month on the job. While the school was still on break, Aizawa took the day shift. His 12hrs consisted of caring for Eri, working on basic lessons so she could catch up with her peers, and a small training lesson specially made to help her ease herself into learning to control her quirk. Your 12hrs consisted of feeding her dinner, getting her ready for bed, putting her to bed, waking her up, feeding her breakfast, and helping her get ready for her day with Aizawa. Every Sat you worked a full 24hrs so Aizawa could have a day off, and he did the same for you the next day.

You knew what you were getting into when you applied. You knew Eri was a special case and you knew schedules would be tight. Slowly but surely your job isolated you from your previous circles, you hardly saw friends anymore. Not that you had a whole lot anyhow.

Your thoughts were constantly about work now. Ever since you met the girl, you worried about her. She was so smart and full of potential, but her trauma ran deep. Yes, things went well your first day, but it was taking some time for you to trust her. She wasn't there to meet you halfway yet. You understood why you understood she would need time to get there. But it was hard when she always asked why Mr. Aizawa wasn't putting her to bed or making her breakfast.

That Mr. Aizawa. That little girl adored him. You knew it was silly, but you were jealous of him. You wished Eri trusted you as she did him. So you had to wait until she could learn to trust you and in the meantime, you had to show her she could. You made better dinners and breakfasts than him. You told better bedtime stories. You made her laugh more than him.

Aizawa himself wasn't that bad of a coworker. In fact, he was actually nice to work with. And it didn't hurt that he was nice to look at. You tried not to stare too much at him. It was just getting harder and harder to ignore your attraction to him.

One day as you came into work, you brought him coffee.

"Good morning." You greeted him as you entered the otherwise empty teacher's lounge.

"Good evening Y/L/N." He corrected you as he stood from his seat.

"Here. I don't know how you take your coffee so I just got it black with a little cream." You held out the cup to him. It took him a moment to take it from your hand. He just stared at it. You thought maybe you had overstepped a line and you'd embarrassed yourself.

"We have coffee here you know." He said as he took him. He lifted it and sipped as up spoke.

"Oh I know, but there's this really great family-run coffee shop by my place. They make theirs special. I know you're a coffee fan so I thought I'd grab ya one on my way." You said with a smile.

"That's very thoughtful of you. Thank you." He said dryly.

"Do you like it?"

"It's fine, Y/L/N, I want to ask you something about Eri."

"Is something wrong?"

"She's still struggling to sleep through the night isn't she?" He looked into your eyes. You weren't sure if he was trying to be intentionally intimidating, but it worked. You sighed.

"She is still having nightmares if that's what you mean."

"Why?"

"Why? You don't intend to have me explain trauma to you, do you?" He brushed you off with a frustrated expression. You're pretty sure that's the first expression you ever saw him show you.

"Why aren't you doing anything about it?"

"I can't make her nightmares disappear, Eraser."

"But you could calm her down with your quirk, can't you? Why don't you use that with her nightmares?" You crossed your arms over your chest.

"I'm there for her when she wakes up and I use it then to calm her down. It's not about making her nightmares just go away, it's about making sure she can calm down after them. So she can learn to self soothe. She's already making exceptionally progress learning to-"

"So you let her experience the nightmare before calming her down when you feel its right?" He jabbed. You paused with your mouth open.

"I understand your frustration, but I hardly think telling me how to do my job is going to fix the problem. I didn't know you had a degree in psychology or experience as a therapist for Proheros. So just because you're not getting the results you want in your training with a small child, doesn't mean it's my fault, okay?" You gave a sharp and pointed smile before leaving the room to start your shift.

That night Eri had another nightmare and started to loudly stir and cry in her sleep. It was hard for you to see her like that, so you waited for her to wake herself up like usual before you could calm her down. But this time, she called for you before you could get to her. She called your name crying. She wiped her eyes as you knelt down by her small twin bed. Usually, you'd hold her hand and use your quirk to make her feel safe. But she reached out for you.

Her hands reached out, asking to be held. So you sat on the bed and rocked her back and forth as you slowly activated your quirk. You had the ability to apply a specific strength to the emotions you sent out. It took a lot to learn and master that trick, but it was a very handy ability. Certain emotions had certain colors and temperatures that went with them. To use your quirk, you had to feel the emotion you want to exude, and then indulge it. You had to focus solely on that emotion and allow it to travel.

As you held her, you ran your fingers through her hair and rocked her from side to side. While you did this, you focused on the calming energy you felt in her room. The darkness, the soft 'tik tik tik' a clock in the room, the softness of her hair. So you took deep breathes and imagined that calming feeling expands to Eri. Soon, a gentle blue color flowed from you with soothing warmth. It took no time as all for her to stop crying. She sniffled a bit as you wiped away her tears and had her blow her nose.

"You're okay, everything's okay. You're safe, you're safe." You whispered softly to her. When she was done crying, she still held onto you as you continued to rock her.

"You promise?" She muttered.

"I promise." You rubbed her back as she fell asleep once again. In record time you got her back to sleep. And the best was the smile she woke up with the next morning. It made you feel like you were finally able to get somewhere and actually help her trust you a little more.

That morning when you left to clock out of your shift and head home, Aizawa met you in the hallway. He held a plastic bag in his hand as he walked with his eyes on the floor.

"Good morning." He greets you. You raised your brows. Did he look guilty?

"Good morning."

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior last night. I know you worry about Eri just as much as I do and I shouldn't have insulted your work the way I did. Anyways, I didn't know what you like so I got you a tea drink and a few pork buns." His voice was deep and sincere. You smiled.

"A peace offering, huh?" You asked as he handed you the bag.

"More of a thank you for the coffee."

"That place is good, right?" You chuckled at him.

"Yeah."

"How do you take your coffee by the way?" He took a minute to think before answering.

"Normally black, but I liked the creamer in that stuff. I imagine it's very sharp otherwise." It made you happy to talk to him like this.

"So another like it tonight?" You asked him.

"That would be lovely, thank you."